Sledding with the Boys
#21
Nanno,
Finished!!!  Wrapped it up this afternoon.  I desidedto go with the prussik knots for the foot man ty backs.  I am a knot guy what can I say.  I will test it out tomorrow.  Inevitably there will be some adjustments but I bet about 90% will be ok.  Thank you so much for all the hrlp and pointers!!!


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#22
Very cool! Can't wait to see photos of it in action!
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#23
Put my new harness rig on Garbie.  It fits well.  I need to shorten the girth strap attachment points.  Other than that its rocking.  I tried with the traces attacked only to the breast collar but the angle down was to steep and it put alot of pressure on the neck strap.  I then ran the traces through the foot mens loop doublef back on them selves and it staitened the pull out enough to take the pressure off the neck strap.  I then checked the trace line  from.collar to load to see how far off of strait it was.  The vector and was really shallow.  I manually checked the hip strap pressure with my finger with the straces attached and traces not attacked while Garbie was in draft and there was very little if any change.  I know it will be diffrent depending on load weight.  Again Garbie seamed to barely notice anything was behind him.  

As always do you see any thing wrong with the construction or anything else I am doing?  I dont want to mess my sled up that why it not being dragged around.  Thanks for all you help through this process.


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#24
That's great! You'll be the one who is able to best tell if any rub spots or problem areas develop as you use your harness, and I'm sure if any crop up you can tweak accordingly. I hope you have a great time!
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#25
Nanno,
As always, I have another question.  I read on the Uk harness goat web sight that a goat can pull twice its body weight, then on the American web sight " Working Goats" say twice a goats weight.  I am assuming both groups are using these weights for wheeled vehicals.  What has been your experiance weight wise as well a distances.  My guys are in good packing shape and health.  We do at least 1, 3 mile run as well as a 4 mile pack with weight a week.

Thanks alot 
Mike
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#26
Twice his body weight is a good estimate in normal conditions. I think you're just going to have to experiment and see what your boys are up to and also use your best judgement given the type of terrain, the length of the trail, and the conditions present at the time. A goat can pull a lot more weight on a level, packed snow trail than on one that is steep, has rocks and deadfall, or where he's having to break trail as he goes. Goats wear down especially fast when they have to break trail because their pointy toes like to post-hole all the way to the ground, giving them poor traction and causing them to flounder easily. If you know to plan ahead for this you should be ok. A big mistake would be to take a full load up the mountain on a packed trail and not plan for fresh snow to fall before your return trek. If you have several goats then it's easy to have them take turns pulling so everyone gets a break if conditions turn south.
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#27
You are great!!!  I am usaully not this Millenial about stuff but I really dont want to screw up one of my guys through ignorance or stupidity.  Thanks again!!!

I gave my son and daughter there first sled ride tonight.  My son was a little hesitant and really did not like it.  My daughter could not get enough of it!!  Awesome!!


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#28
Looks like you need some snow on the ground to get that sled going! Did you ever see the video Taffy posted a couple years ago of her friend's kids racing across a snowy field in a sled pulled by their dairy doe? It was hilarious! If you never saw it I'll have to dig it up. They were flying!

I don't think you need to worry about screwing up your goats. You are a very conscientious goat owner and you pay attention! If one of your guys starts to get sore, you'll notice it. Some owners wouldn't. If one of your guys starts to balk, you'll try to figure out what's wrong with the equipment instead of immediately blaming it on poor attitude. I've heard over and over that Nubian goats are lazy and stubborn, but as I've learned more about goats and goat saddles, I've come to realize that wooden goat saddles DO NOT fit most Nubians. I think of the purebred Nubian bucks I had, and while they did indeed have very easy-going personalities, I would never classify them as "lazy" or "stubborn". In fact, they were huge people-pleasers and would try things for you just to make you happy, even if it wasn't something they would ordinarily be adventuresome or athletic enough to try on their own initiative.

I think of my guy Sputnik. He is 5/8 Nubian and has a lot more of the Nubian-type personality traits than our other crosses, including the tendencies to be loud, timid, and lazy. He's nothing like the bold, athletic Finn who likes to show off and perform crazy stunts just for the heck of it. Sputnik is cautious on steep terrain and near cliffs, and he's never sure whether he can jump into the truck and often needs a lot of encouragement to try (and he always seems surprised with himself when he makes it). Sputnik gave me some major problems on the trail one time when I tried to remove something from his panniers. He leaped up and almost knocked my front teeth out with the wooden crossbuck. He had also been lagging and complaining like he wanted to go back. It turned out that the wooden saddle didn't fit him at all and he was telling me he was in pain in the only way he knew how. I switched him to the Sopris saddle after that and we never had another problem. In fact, he loves to be saddled and acts disappointed if I saddle Finn instead. He grew out of the loudness, and the only time he ever woke us up at night was at Rendy 2017 when he started bawling at the top of his lungs at 1:00 a.m. I couldn't figure it out until I smelled smoke. I checked our campfire and someone had thrown some paper plates into the ashes where they had eventually begun to smolder. As soon as I took care of it, Sputnik quit hollering. So sometimes that noisy Nubian trait comes in handy. Wink I often wonder if Nubians have been unfairly judged simply because we did not understand them.

Sorry for the off-topic rant, but it's my very roundabout way of saying "You got this!"
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#29
Thanks all that means alot comming from you!!!  Thank again also for all the technical advice!!!  My kids appreciate it!!!
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#30
Nanno,
I made as epic rookie move the otherday!  I was hooking up Garbie to my pulk sled for our trip at the trail head, I was really exited about seeing it all in action.  I was so exited that I totally forgot to put the shafts in the shaft loops.  Luckily the trail was mostly up hill on the way in to camp, but anytime there was a little down hill the sled would sled to Garbies side and the shafts would go all over the place.  I had know idea what was going on.  I was so disapointed!!!  So I am laying in my sleeping bag going over the goods and bads of the day.  Then it hits me!!  I did not put the shafts in the shaft loops.  It was as if I did not build the thing.  Anyway the next day when we packed out I used the shaft loops.  Believe it or not the whole thing worked great and stayed in line going down hill just like it was designed to.  Live and learn.  I did have to mess with the trace length vs. the footmen loops position on the shafts.  Again I got if figured out with a little trial and error.  I attacked a picture of my no shaft loops train wreck.


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